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As a safety pioneer, Mercedes-Benz plays a trail-blazing role when it comes to simulators. The first self-developed driving simulator was inaugurated in the Daimler-Benz Research Center in Berlin as far back as 1985. Since October 2010, Mercedes-Benz has been using its new driving simulator in the Technology Center in Sindelfingen. With its 360° screen, fast electrical operation and twelve metre-long rails giving lateral movement, the "Bewegt Simulator" is the most powerful in the motor industry. The vehicle’s steering equipment is connected via data cables to the computerised control system of the driving simulator. If the test driver steers, accelerates or brakes, these reactions are registered by the control system and have the same effects as in real traffic. The projected scenery changes constantly and the movable chamber simulates the vehicle’s position in relationship to the driving surface, for example when braking or cornering at speed.

The computer recalculates the vehicle’s driving characteristics over 1000 times per second and issues appropriate commands to the electronics. These move the simulator at a speed of ten metres per second (36 km/h) max. up to twelve metres in a lateral direction, so as to be able to simulate changing two lanes in one manoeuvre, for example.

A key component of the development programme

The system cannot and will not ever replace real test drives: however, using the simulator makes it possible to test the systems and components of every current and future Mercedes-Benz model in every phase of development. "Thanks to the new driving simulator we are able to simulate highly dynamic driving manoeuvres such as changing lanes in an even more realistic manner and thus conduct even more intensive research into the behaviour of driver and vehicle in road traffic," explains Prof. Thomas Weber, Daimler Board of Management member responsible for corporate research and Head of Development at Mercedes-Benz Cars. Part of the energy needed for operating the simulator is even recovered during braking in so-called regenerative braking and is fed back into the mains supply for the plant in Sindelfingen. Usage is therefore reduced considerably - which is a good thing, not just for Mercedes-Benz.

Technicians observing a virtual test drive in the Technology Center in Sindelfingen.